Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-11-11

Tuesday was fine day. And the Dem
ocratic rooster SO announces it.
THE SUPREMACY OFLAWIN
AMERICA.
There are appointed to be hung in
Chicago to-day. seven men, for the murder
of seven other men, and the wOunding of
sixty others. The killed and wounded men
were policemen engaged in the execution
of the lawful orders of their superior Off
GERS. 1t is to be noted that all except one,
of the men to be executed to-day,
are foreigners who had come to this coun-
try at dates ranging from 1858 to 1888;
the one exception is debris OF the civil
war rather than an American product.
Five are Germans, one an Englishman and
one an American. 1t is also to be noted
that not one of the foreign born men had
worked at his trade since coming to Amer
lea, or been engaged in any avOcation ex
cept that of ''agitation." trade pursued
-4nder the various titles of Socialists. An
archists and others. The mode of llvell-
hood by their occupation seems to have
been chiefly the starting of little news
papers, obtaining subscriptions to them
from wageWorkers in whose interest the
agitators alleged they we're conducted, and
then when one paper failed start another
with new levy for subscriptions. The
names of the condemned men are August
Spies, Michael Schwab, Adolph Fischer,
George Engel and Louis Llngg, Ger
mans; Samuel Fielder, Englishman, and
Albert R. Parsons, American. The
Germans appear all to have been "aglta-
tors" in their own country before coming
to this one. the Englishman learned it
from them here, and the American is, as we
have said, product of our war. He is
an Albanian, native of Montgomery,
who early after peace was declared, Joined
the dominant political party and was ap-
pointed to several Federal offices in Texas,
where he violated public sentiment by
marrying mulatto, and then emigrated to
Chicago where he became professional
"agitator." An agitator may be expressed
in a word-he looks to all other mems
living but his own. and lives on all other
mems labor but his own. II CHANGED that
in May. a year ago, these agitators and
their sympathiZers had an opportunity to
masquerade under the guise of the friends
of Labor. 1t was about that time that
the workingmen of the country were en-
gagged in movement looking to less
ening the hours of day labor, and in the
principal cities of the country meetings
were being held in its favor. The agita
tors in Chicago seized upon this, and held
Labor meetings at which the most incen-
diary and dangerous threats were made
against pretty much all who did not sym
pathZe with them. They tried to couple
practical labor from which wages are got
ten, to theoretical socialism from which
beer and idleness are gotten. Those meet
ing had no connection with the knights
of Labor, the body of workingmen that was
conducting the elght-hour a day move
ment, and whose meetings were held in
their own halls asa characterized by order
and sensible debate. The agitaJor meet
ings were held in the streets, and one of
them was dispersed by the police as a
nuisance. This dispersion fred the agita-
tors to the point of delirium. They held
meeting on Nay ID, at which plan of
operations. originated by Engel, was
adopted. The plan contemplated the
throwing of bombs into the police force
and the use of rifles by members of the
Lehr and Weir Verein in case their pro-
ceedings were interfered with. Next day,
at another meeting, Spies exhibited his
revenge circular" calling his followers
to arms. Engel's plan was again formally
approved, the understanding being that
the armed anarchists would assist the
mob against the police in case of dis
turbance; that a bomb should be thrown
into each police station; that the police
men, on issuing from the stations, should
be shot down one by one, and be thus pre-
vented from reaching the scene of conflict,
and that, when victory was secured, the
different anarchist bodies should march
to the centre of the city, cutting telegraph
wires and hremen's hose and killing all
that opposed. The plan was not carried
out exactly as proposed. but it seems to be
beyond question that the tragedy of May
4th was due to the adoption of Engel's
"plau'' on the I'd and Sd of May.
1t was on May 4th, that the murders for
which the agitators were condemned took
place. The agitators and their friends
had asse mbled, and the most violent and
threatening speeches were made by Spies,
Parsons and Fielder, the latter being
speaking when several companies of 60
licemen came up. The officer command
ing them gave the order for the crowd TO
disperse. A bomb was thrown on the in
slant amcSg the police. and pistol firing
commenced On both SIDES. In moment
seven policemen lay dead and sixty per-
Sons wounded. 1t was cold blooded.
arranged murder. discussed and plan
gd on May I'd, and re-discussed and ar
langed on May Sd. by the murderers. The
thrower of the bomb was never identified,
or if SO was never caught, but his confed.
4erates in the assassination were, and their
correspondence. and programme for the
murder were captured at their homes af-
forwards. The trial ended in August
st by the conviction and sentence to
9TH Of the seven, and two weeks ago on